As their legal showdown intensifies, Lively refocuses her case on sexual harassment and retaliation, while accusing Baldoni’s team of exploiting personal medical records for publicity.
The increasingly bitter legal battle between Blake Lively and her It Ends With Us co-star and director, Justin Baldoni, took another dramatic turn this week, as Lively officially dropped two emotional distress claims from her lawsuit — and sharply rebuked Baldoni’s legal team for what her attorneys called a “press stunt.”
The move, filed on Friday in federal court, sees Lively withdrawing her claims of intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress against Baldoni. According to her legal team, the decision was a strategic one, designed to “streamline the case” and concentrate on her core accusations of sexual harassment, retaliation, and a hostile work environment.
The emotional distress claims had been a flashpoint in the legal proceedings, after Baldoni’s lawyers filed a motion to compel the actress to release her medical records, including therapy notes, arguing that Lively “cannot have it both ways” by making such claims without supporting documentation.
Lively’s attorneys, Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, hit back forcefully, accusing Baldoni’s team of using the request as a “press stunt,” and asserting that the demand was “utterly pointless” given their intention to drop the claims.
On Tuesday, Judge Lewis J. Liman ruled that Lively’s emotional distress claims were officially dismissed, while simultaneously denying Baldoni’s motion to compel. The court asked both parties to finalize whether the dismissal would be with or without prejudice — a key detail that would determine whether Lively could refile those claims in the future. Either way, she will be prohibited from submitting any evidence related to emotional distress in support of those two claims.
Still, Lively’s legal team emphasized that she will continue to pursue emotional distress damages through other aspects of her lawsuit. “Ms. Lively has offered to dismiss those claims because they are no longer necessary,” the attorneys stated. “She will continue to pursue emotional distress damages through other claims in her lawsuit, including sexual harassment and retaliation.”
The legal conflict between Lively and Baldoni exploded into public view in December, when the Gossip Girl actress filed an 80-page complaint with the California Civil Rights Department. In the filing, she accused Baldoni of sexually harassing her on set and subsequently launching a smear campaign against her. The complaint named multiple defendants, including Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, and producer Jamey Heath, and described Lively suffering from “grief, fear, trauma, and extreme anxiety.”
According to the complaint, the production team failed “to investigate complaints of workplace harassment, to prevent inappropriate and harassing behaviors on set, and to provide avenues for cast and crew members to safely raise concerns.”
Baldoni has denied the allegations and filed a countersuit, claiming Lively — with the aid of her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds — attempted to “hijack” the production and defamed him in retaliation. His countersuit includes claims of defamation, civil extortion, and breach of contract.
The high-profile case, involving Hollywood power players and raising issues of workplace safety, privacy, and defamation, is expected to head to trial in March.
As the battle wages on, what began as a star-studded adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel has become one of the most explosive off-screen dramas in recent memory — with its resolution still far from clear.
